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Has Great Eastern Cutlery peaked in popularity?

E

Elgatodeacero

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
2,889
It seems like the recent production numbers are saturating the market.

The 36 pattern has more than 50 available on eBay at pretty small markups from retail when you consider eBay fees.

94/49’s are also available for retail plus fees or less. Same with 89’s.

The recent 86 models seem to command a premium, so maybe it’s just the pattern.
 
I've pretty much lost interest in GEC. The knives became virtually unobtainable for most people, largely due to flippers trying to capitalize on the brand's popularity. They're nice knives...but they're not worth anything close to the current secondary market pricing.
To be honest, I'm not sure I would buy a future forum knife by GEC. It would have to be everything I want...pattern, blade shape, steel, covers - the total package - for me to even consider it.
 
For me personally, GEC peaked in popularity about 2 years ago. I was still pretty excited about them in the spring of 2020 but it went downhill fast from there. The last GEC that I bought was a Little Rattler in November 2020 and I haven't wanted another GEC since.

Great knives for sure but I've gotten them out of my system and I've moved on.
 
Frankly, I hope so. It would be nice to be able to occasionally buy one again.

They released my dream Barlow, the Two Acorn in stainless and micarta, and I just can't bring myself to pay a 150%+ markup to obtain one.
 
They still seem to sell very quickly. Historically, GEC, puts out a couple of models every year that do not disappear immediately (unpopular, reputation for issues, made in large numbers and so on) but most of their models, especially in the last couple of years sell quickly.
 
The 36’s sold for about 140-190 at dealers, depending on the exact configuration, which is basically MSRP.

add in 25-30$ for eBay fees and that is what most are selling for.

more than 50 of one pattern available on eBay seems to indicate a saturated market.
 
Elgatodeacero said:
The 36’s sold for about 140-190 at dealers, depending on the exact configuration, which is basically MSRP.

add in 25-30$ for eBay fees and that is what most are selling for.

more than 50 of one pattern available on eBay seems to indicate a saturated market.
Click to expand...

Bladehq sold it for $107 (ebony). All the new ones I saw on the bay are >$200 plus tax and shipping, even from certified dealers.
 
They are off my radar and I was a huge fan starting in 2006 when people were meh about them. Recently it seems they are focusing on wharncliff blades and patterns that don’t appeal to me. Last patterns I even liked were the Abilene and Dixie stockmans. This added to the outrageous secondary market gives me a hard pass.
 
I miss the days when I could get a quality 1095 single blade GEC for 100 bucks or less.
The self-interested money grab that drives up cost without driving any value in the product has soured me.
I suspect last year was the final year I'll buy a GEC, and that was wholly due to the kindness of fellow forum folks who sold me knives at the reasonable cost they obtained them at.
 
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